Citroën Junior Team
| Full name | Citroën Junior Team |
|---|---|
| Base |  Versailles, France |
| Team principal(s) | Benoit Nogier |
| Drivers |  Thierry Neuville |
| Co-drivers | Nicholas Gilsoul |
| Chassis | Citroën DS3 WRC |
| Tyres | Michelin |
| World Rally Championship career | |
| Debut | 2009 |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 1 |
The Citroën Junior Team is a World Rally Championship team, which competed in the 2009-2010 and 2012 seasons. It was set up and run as Citroën's secondary team in the World Rally Championship, pitched against the existing Stobart Ford World Rally Team.
The team was run by French preparation firm PH Sport along with Citroën Racing Technologies. It was revived in 2012.[1]
Contents
History
Background
PH Sport and Citroën Sport Technologies ran semi-privateer Citroën C4 WRCs for Conrad Rautenbach and Urmo Aava during the 2008 World Rally Championship season.[2]
2009
The Citroën Junior Team was formed in 2009 following the withdrawal of manufacturers Subaru and Suzuki. It ran Citroën C4s for Russian Evgeny Novikov, Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach and Junior World Rally Championship champion Sébastien Ogier. It ran former Subaru driver Chris Atkinson rather than Novikov on the season-opening Rally Ireland, although despite a good performance, the Australian did not feature in the team again. Petter Solberg was nominated to score manufacturer points for the team at Rally GB.[3] Solberg finished fourth there, with another driver of Citroën Junior Team Aaron Burkart finishing 12th in his first WRC rally with WRC car.
2010
On 4 December 2009, it was announced that 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen would drive for the Citroën Junior Team for his switch to rallying.[4] Räikkönen's co-driver would be Kaj Lindström who had partnered multiple world champion Tommi Mäkinen in the past, while Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were in a second car for the Junior Team.
Räikkönen and Lindström contested 12 out of the 13 rounds in the 2010 WRC season, missing only the Rally of New Zealand. They did not start at 2010 Rally Catalunya because of a crash at the pre-event shakedown.
Sébastien Ogier claimed Citroën Junior Team's best result, winning at 2010 Rally de Portugal. Because of his strong finishes he was promoted to Citroën World Rally Team for gravel rallies (Finland, Japan, Wales) while Dani Sordo switched to Citroën Junior Team for those rallies. The best result for Kimi Räikkönen was 5th place at 2010 Rally of Turkey.
2011
The 'Junior Team' banner has been dropped for 2011, Citroen Racing Technologies instead focussing the brand's customer efforts on Petter Solberg, Peter van Merksteijn Jr. and Kimi Räikkönen's privateer campaigns.
2012
Thierry Neuville entered the WRC after a successful two-year campaign in IRC with Peugeot 207 S2000 run by Peugeot BelLux. He won famous Rallye San Remo and Tour de Corse in 2011 season. Thierry did not compete in selected rallies and Citroën Junior Team did not compete in the manufacturers championship.
2013
The team did not compete as WRC team in the 2013 season. Instead PH-Sport supported former Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica in the European Rally Championship and World Rally Championship-2 campaigns driving Citroën DS3 RRC, which is prepeared by the team.
2014
Stephane Lefebvre won the WRC2 championship in 2014 and was rewarded with a number of selected outings in the WRC team in 2015 and 2016
2016
With Citroën's decision to take a sabbatical as works team in preperations for 2017 PH-Sport took over as the manufacturer's de-facto leading team. Competing under the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team the team will compete in selected events with Kris Meeke as their leading driver, while at some events the other cars will be shared between Stéphane Lefebvre, Craig Breen and Khalid Al-Qassimi. The team however is not registered as a manufacturer team and therefore the drivers are ineligible to score manufacturer points.
WRC Results
| Year | Entrant | Car | No | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | WDC | Points | TC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | World Rally Team Estonia | Citroën C4 WRC | 15 |  Urmo Aava |
MON | SWE 18 |
MEX | ARG | JOR Ret |
ITA 8 |
GRE 4 |
TUR Ret |
FIN 15 |
GER 8 |
NZL 5 |
ESP Ret |
FRA 7 |
JPN | GBR | 11th | 13 | - | - |
| Conrad Rautenbach | Citroën Xsara WRC | 21 |  Conrad Rautenbach |
MON Ret |
SWE 16 |
15th | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Citroën C4 WRC | 16 | MEX 15 |
ARG 4 |
JOR 26 |
ITA 13 |
GRE 10 |
TUR 8 |
FIN 10 |
GER 13 |
NZL Ret |
ESP Ret |
FRA 14 |
JPN Ret |
GBR 15 |
|||||||||
| Equipe de France FFSA | 17 | Sébastien Ogier |
MON | SWE | MEX | ARG | JOR | ITA | GRE | TUR | FIN | GER | NZL | ESP | FRA | JPN | GBR 26 |
19th | 1 | ||||
| 2009 | Citroën Junior Team | Citroën C4 WRC | 7 |  Chris Atkinson |
IRE 5 |
NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR | 14th | 4 | 4th | 47 | |||
 Evgeny Novikov |
IRE | NOR 11 |
CYP Ret |
POR Ret |
ARG | ITA 5 |
GRC 16 |
POL 9 |
FIN Ret |
AUS | ESP Ret |
GBR | 13th | 4 | |||||||||
| 8 | Conrad Rautenbach |
IRE 18 |
NOR Ret |
CYP 6 |
POR Ret |
ARG Ret |
ITA 9 |
GRE 5 |
POL 8 |
FIN Ret |
AUS Ret |
ESP 11 |
GBR 8 |
10th | 9 | ||||||||
| 11 |  Petter Solberg |
IRE | NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR 4 |
5th | 35 | ||||||||
| 12 | Sébastien Ogier |
IRE 6 |
NOR 10 |
CYP Ret |
POR 17 |
ARG 7 |
ITA Ret |
GRE 2 |
POL Ret |
FIN 6 |
AUS 5 |
ESP 5 |
GBR Ret |
8th | 24 | ||||||||
| 16 |  Aaron Burkart |
IRE | NOR | CYP | POR | ARG | ITA | GRE | POL | FIN | AUS | ESP | GBR 12 |
- | 0 | ||||||||
| 2010 | Citroën Junior Team | Citroën C4 WRC | 7 | Sébastien Ogier |
SWE 5 |
MEX 3 |
JOR 6 |
TUR 4 |
NZL 2 |
POR 1 |
BUL 4 |
GER 3 |
FRA 6 |
ESP 10 |
4th | 167 | 3rd | 217 | |||||
 Dani Sordo |
FIN 5 |
JPN 4 |
GBR 5 |
5th | 150 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  Kimi Räikkönen |
SWE 29 |
MEX Ret |
JOR 8 |
TUR 5 |
NZL | POR 10 |
BUL 11 |
FIN 25 |
GER 7 |
JPN Ret |
FRA Ret |
ESP DNS |
GBR 8 |
10th | 25 | |||||||
| 2012 | Citroën Junior Team | Citroën DS3 WRC | 23 | Thierry Neuville |
MON Ret |
SWE 12 |
MEX 13 |
POR 8 |
ARG 5 |
GRE 6 |
NZL | FIN 16 |
GER 12 |
GBR 7 |
FRA 4 |
ITA | ESP 12 |
7th | 53 | 5th | 72 | ||
| 2013 | Robert Kubica | Citroën DS3 RRC | 74 |  Robert Kubica |
MON | SWE | MEX | POR 19 |
ARG | GRE 11 |
ITA 9 |
FIN 9 |
GER 5 |
AUS | FRA 9 |
ESP 9 |
GBR | 13th | 18 | - | - |
Gallery
-
Evgeny Novikov - 2009 Cyprus Rally.jpg
Evgeny Novikov driving a Citroën Junior Team-run Citroën C4 WRC at the 2009 Cyprus Rally
-
Sébastien Ogier - 2009 Rally Australia.jpg
-
Rally Finland 2010 - shakedown - Dani Sordo 1.jpg
Dani Sordo during his first rally for Citroën Junior Team at 2010 Rally Finland.
-
Robert Kubica driving Citroën DS3 RRC at the 2013 Rally Finland
See also
References
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- ↑ Kimi Raikkonen signs with Citröen junior rally team AUSmotive.com, 4 December 2009
